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Bresser Everest (ED) 8x42 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter FrankD
- Start date
What yours broke now too. That's a 50% Failure rate! Where's Frank at?
brownpelican1
Well-known member
CG,
Would you share what issue you had with the Bresser Everest? I used mine again today for about 5 hrs. of birding and it continues to perform flawlessly.
Thanks,
Tom
Don't twist the eyecups to hard! HaHa.
jragsdale
Member
Wow, I'm surprised by all the "forum drama" that's going on here. Quite a bit of froth to sort through to get to the meat of each post.
Anyhow, I thought I'd contribute my thoughts on this binocular (Bresser Everest ED 8x42).
To preface and for background, I've owned very few pairs of binoculars with my prior main set a pair of Redfield Rebels (Leopold) (~$140 roofs) which I've had for a year or so. Upon comparing the Rebels inside in Cabelas, it was difficult to detect differences from one binocular to another so I stuck with them. After reading all the positive things that have been said about the Everests, I decided to jump in head first. I found them for $178 with free shipping on clearance at MidwayUSA.com.
Once I was able to get these out into the usual habitat that I view birds and nature, I was stunned! Their ability to resolve so much extra detail, gather that much more light, and simultaneously be lighter, smaller and more comfortable to use. For only $40 more than my previous set! I would say these are probably the smallest that I would want for my hands for a "slim full-sized" binocular. Eye cups work great, all movement and hinges are smooth and seem natural. Finger placement will take some getting used to as my prior binocular was a closed hinge design.
Thanks for the recommendations everyone! Another satisfied customer.
Anyhow, I thought I'd contribute my thoughts on this binocular (Bresser Everest ED 8x42).
To preface and for background, I've owned very few pairs of binoculars with my prior main set a pair of Redfield Rebels (Leopold) (~$140 roofs) which I've had for a year or so. Upon comparing the Rebels inside in Cabelas, it was difficult to detect differences from one binocular to another so I stuck with them. After reading all the positive things that have been said about the Everests, I decided to jump in head first. I found them for $178 with free shipping on clearance at MidwayUSA.com.
Once I was able to get these out into the usual habitat that I view birds and nature, I was stunned! Their ability to resolve so much extra detail, gather that much more light, and simultaneously be lighter, smaller and more comfortable to use. For only $40 more than my previous set! I would say these are probably the smallest that I would want for my hands for a "slim full-sized" binocular. Eye cups work great, all movement and hinges are smooth and seem natural. Finger placement will take some getting used to as my prior binocular was a closed hinge design.
Thanks for the recommendations everyone! Another satisfied customer.
bh46118
Well-known member
If you saw a picture of me, your relief would be short lived.|
|
|Good to hear about the picture, I thought it was a self portrait.
Now I am relieved.
Jerry
bh46118
Well-known member
It looks like the EDG, Alpen, Zen Ray and Swift were all a little better. Hmm, I guess the Bresser isn't a clone of the Alpen. How is the build quality of the Alpen? Any problems?
On the matter of seeing "the mechanism of Swarovski eyecups:" This is something I have never been able to do because on my SLCs they screw on and off the binoculars in order to accommodate their optional winged eyecups and/or 2x doubler.
Bob
brownpelican1
Well-known member
You are confused. The Alpen Rainier 8x32 is Alpen's premier binocular. You must be thinking of the Alpen Wings ED. That is the apparent clone of the Bresser. The Rainier's have an alpha build quality. They rival the best I have ever handled in that regard.
FrankD
Well-known member
Actually 2 out of 6 at this point. Your rubber on the eyecup and the report that cycle guy mentioned. Speaking of which, what was your concern CG? Was it the same as Dennis's or something else. I would like to know so I can watch out for potential concerns.
One of the reasons I probably haven't had issues with the rubber on the eyecup is because I almost never extend the eyecups on any of my binoculars. I need to the extra eye relief because of my nose.
This issue does bring to mind another binocular known for eyecup concerns, the Nikon Monarch ATB. In the same line of thought I never had a problem with its eyecups either most likely for the same reasons mentioned above. That model was a $300 binocular in its days so I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar concern from a $200 model.
Jragsdale,
Thank you for sharing your experiences. I am not surprised by your impression of them. I am not entirely sure but I thought the Redfield Rebels aren't phase-coated. That one characteristic alone can often times lead to a huge optical performance improvement. When you throw in the ED glass and, very likely, more up to date antireflective coatings the difference should be pretty substantial.
This comparison, in particular, though has brought a good point of discussion to light. It wasn't that many years ago that many roof prism binoculars at the price point of the Bressers didn't have phase coating, weren't fully multicoated and weren't wateproof. They certainly didn't have ED glass in the design. I find it intriguing how much some of the high-end features from just a handful of years ago have now started to trickle down to such inexpensive price points. We have become accustomed to a certain standard at this point and when you compare the Bresser to that standard they still appear to offer quite a value. When you compare them to the standard from only a few years ago though then they start to look even more impressive.
Just a thought.
eitanaltman
Well-known member
I wonder if cycleguy is going to come back and actually describe what happened?
jragsdale
Member
Thanks for the reply Frank. That makes sense about the Rebels. I think it's time for another binocular roundup by one of the optics magazines. The $200 price point is getting interesting. What do we have so far? The Bresser Everests, Sightron SIIBS, Zen-Ray ZRS, Alpen Wings ED, Celestron Trail seekers. I'm sure there are more but the pack is thickening!
FrankD
Well-known member
I would enjoy that as well. One problem though...
Many of the "monster reviews" are done by sources that retail optics and thus are restricted to posting a comparison strictly on the models that they can sell.
I wouldn't mind seeing another Cornell Lab of Ornithology review despite the usual concerns that are raised here on the forum. Come to think of it, they are due to publish another review some time in the next year.
Many of the "monster reviews" are done by sources that retail optics and thus are restricted to posting a comparison strictly on the models that they can sell.
I wouldn't mind seeing another Cornell Lab of Ornithology review despite the usual concerns that are raised here on the forum. Come to think of it, they are due to publish another review some time in the next year.
eitanaltman
Well-known member
Just a nit-pick but the Alpen Wings ED, like the Celestron Granite. despite having obviously similar lineage as the Bresser, is not in the $200 price class. It sells for $300-400 like the Granite line, depending on the retailer.
There was a very recent "mid priced" binocular review at the Porter's website (birdwatching.com) which did include the Zen ZRS and Alpen Wings ED among the ones you listed. Link: http://birdwatching.com/optics/2011midpricebins/review.html
The review includes some other popular "budget" options from this site, although above the $200 price point, like Zen ED3, Vortex Viper HD, Kruger Caldera, Vanguard Endeavor ED, Eagle Optics Ranger ED, etc. Some of the other notable $200-ish models they included besides the Zen ZRS are the Vortex Diamondback, Kowa SV, Nikon Monarch, Alpen Apex, and Bushnell Legend Ultra HD.
The problem with the Porter's reviews is that their optics scoring is limited strictly to a resolution test. Most of their testing is subjective evaluation with a bunch of people handling them and giving scores on fit and feel, focus knob feel, plus a diopter score... so the numerical "ranking" isn't really going to correlate well to what we think about in terms of optics quality on this site. For example, the Zen ZRS received a very good resolution score but ranks fairly low because of these other factors. And they don't even score things like FOV, close focus, distortion, etc.
Plus they only do write-ups on a few specific "binoculars of note". For example, the Wings ED had one of the best resolution scores (4.8, behind only the top scoring Viper HD and Endeavor ED) but didn't merit a write-up at all.
But bottom line is we have a lot of options now at $200. Good times
There was a very recent "mid priced" binocular review at the Porter's website (birdwatching.com) which did include the Zen ZRS and Alpen Wings ED among the ones you listed. Link: http://birdwatching.com/optics/2011midpricebins/review.html
The review includes some other popular "budget" options from this site, although above the $200 price point, like Zen ED3, Vortex Viper HD, Kruger Caldera, Vanguard Endeavor ED, Eagle Optics Ranger ED, etc. Some of the other notable $200-ish models they included besides the Zen ZRS are the Vortex Diamondback, Kowa SV, Nikon Monarch, Alpen Apex, and Bushnell Legend Ultra HD.
The problem with the Porter's reviews is that their optics scoring is limited strictly to a resolution test. Most of their testing is subjective evaluation with a bunch of people handling them and giving scores on fit and feel, focus knob feel, plus a diopter score... so the numerical "ranking" isn't really going to correlate well to what we think about in terms of optics quality on this site. For example, the Zen ZRS received a very good resolution score but ranks fairly low because of these other factors. And they don't even score things like FOV, close focus, distortion, etc.
Plus they only do write-ups on a few specific "binoculars of note". For example, the Wings ED had one of the best resolution scores (4.8, behind only the top scoring Viper HD and Endeavor ED) but didn't merit a write-up at all.
But bottom line is we have a lot of options now at $200. Good times
eitanaltman
Well-known member
How bizarre. We will all wait with baited breath.
Cycleguy tell me in a PM and I promise I won't tell anybody.
